Abstract

This monograph deals with maritime liens in a conflict of laws situation, and more particularly with the question of recognition and enforcement of foreign maritime liens in Australia - informed by a preliminary study of the origins of maritime law and maritime liens generally. It is about the maritime lien, "a nasty little beast who continues to stalk the unwary" and the conflict of laws. In view of the vagaries of maritime liens and the involute nature of conflict of laws, the discourse on this subject area is one of the most complex in international maritime law and practice. One may say in Churchillian rhetoric that the conflict of laws problem in maritime lien law is a "riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma".